Repeat felon sentenced to 16 years

An Independence man who was in a seven-hour standoff with police last year is headed to federal prison.

The office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri announced Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple has sentenced Edward L. Garlock Jr., 47, to 16 years and eight months in prison without parole. He had prior felony convictions and was sentenced as an armed career criminal.

The U.S. attorney’s office gave this account of events: In June 2013, Independence police went to Garlock’s home to arrest him on outstanding warrants. Outside the home, they talked to his girlfriend, who said he was inside, with a pistol, hiding under a pile of dirty clothes in the laundry room in the basement. She said he was increasingly paranoid about having to go back to prison and had said he wouldn’t be taken peacefully and would “shoot it out” with police if need be.

Police called in the Special Response Team, and a standoff ensued, lasting past 2 a.m. Police tried to order Garlock out of the home, but then determined he was posing a threat to officers and the public, so they used CS gas and diversionary tactics and took him into custody.

In the closet next to the laundry room, police found a loaded .22-caliber pistol. Garlock had previous felony convictions for tampering, burglary, resisting arrest, stealing and distributing a controlled substance. Under federal law, felons cannot owns guns or ammunition.

He said he had bought the gun about a month earlier for $50. He also admitted to being a methamphetamine addict. In April, he pleaded guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession of a gun.